Sheldon Brookbank | Defenseman

Latest News

Recent News

Sheldon Brookbank is in tough as he tries to make the Calgary Flames.

The 34-year-old defenseman is battling 13 others for the final two or three spots on the Flames blueline. He is on a professional tryout offer and trying to fend off the likes of Deryk Engelland, Tyler Wotherspoon and John Ramage as well as Raphael Diaz for a spot. It does not look good for Brookbank but you never know. The former Blackhawk had seven points and 64 hits in 48 games last season. Sat, Sep 20, 2014 07:22:00 AM

Sheldon Brookbank will reportedly attend training camp with the Calgary Flames on a tryout.

He was hoping to stay with Chicago, where he's played the past two seasons. "The Hawks said that they liked me and they'd like to have me back if it worked but obviously they're a little strapped under the cap," Brookbank said. "It didn't quite pan out as I'd hoped. It's not to say that it's totally over and done with. You never know what could happen from now until the start of the season. As for now, I'm moving on and I'm going to Calgary and I'm going to try to make their team." Brookbank had seven points and 64 hits in 48 games last year. Fri, Aug 29, 2014 05:09:00 PM

Sheldon Brookbank still has interest in returning to the Chicago Blackhawks if a slot opens up for him.

The Blackhawks would likely only do that if they trade away a defenseman in a cap-saving measure. They currently have seven blueliners inked to one-way deals. Meanwhile, Brookbank is investigating his other options. Thu, Jul 17, 2014 07:28:00 PM

According to a source, Brookbank is in the mix to return next season. He played 48 games with the Blackhawks last year and appeared in seven playoff matches. Brookbank mostly serves as a depth defender for Chicago, but he can also play at forward which makes him a handy player to have. Fri, Jun 20, 2014 08:48:00 AM

Depth Charts

The Calgary Flames will enter the 2015-16 season strong down the middle.

The Flames inked Mikael Backlund to a contract on Saturday but the real strength at center are Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett, their top two picks in the last two drafts. Monahan exploded last season on the scoreboard with 31 goals and 62 points while Bennett made a great showing at the end of the season after he recovered from shoulder surgery at the beginning of the season. The future certainly looks bright for the Calgary Flames, especially at center.

Updating a previous item, it appears that the Calgary Flames signed Mikael Backlund for three years, $10.725 million.

He'll carry a cap hit of $3.575 million, then. The Flames get a nice deal, as this contract eats up two would-be UFA years. His numbers weren't great in 2014-15, yet Backlund figures to be a key center for Calgary going forward.

Matt Stajan had a goal and three points as the Calgary Flames advanced to the second round.

Stajan had the game winner and ended the six game series with four points, not too shabby for a bottom two center. "Things happen so quickly out there, and even when I go home, I’ll blink my eyes and still pinch myself not believing what just happened," Stajan said. "It’s one I’ll enjoy, especially for the next couple days."

Sam Bennett is upbeat about attending the Flames' development camp despite the fact that he might seem overqualified for it at this point.

Bennett should have all-but secured a roster spot after stepping up in the 2015 playoffs. He would agree that he proved himself in the postseason, but he still sees the benefit in this camp. "I'm still only 19 years old," Bennett said. "So I think there's tons I still need to learn. The more time I spend around the team and around the coaching staff, the more I'm going to learn and the better I'm going to get. I think it's nothing but good for me."

Johnny Gaudreau was named to the NHL's All-Rookie Team for the 2014-15 season.

Drafted 104th overall in 2011, Gaudreau led all rookies with 40 assists and shared first with 64 points across 80 games. Gaudreau also led all rookies with eight power play goals and 21 power play points, while leading rookies in average ice time per game with 17:43 for the Calgary Flames.

Forwards Mason Raymond and Markus Granlund will be joined by defenseman Corey Potter as they watch Game One against Anaheim from the press box.

Unfortunately, there isn't much fantasy value to be found here. Not point, hits, blocks, or anything substantial. To wit, Coach Hartley has rookies Drew Shore, Josh Jooris, and Tyler Wotherspoon in their place tonight.

Lance Bouma will attempt to take another step forward offensively in 2015-16.

Bouma scored 16 goals and 34 points in 78 contests last season, up from five goals and 15 points in 2013-14. "Last year was a good year for me, but I feel I can still improve on it. That's my mindset going in," he said. "Obviously, people are going to have questions whether I can do it again and I'm going to try and do my best to prove to them I can and can do it for a long time." While he's a big contributor from a physical perspective, we don't expect him to make further strides offensively. He signed a three-year, $6.6 million contract on Thursday.

Bollig had his nose straightened out. The tough winger will likely get into a few more fights in his NHL career so we have to wonder if it would have made more sense to have waited until his career was over.

Jiri Hudler became the first Czech Republic-born player to win the Lady Byng Trophy on Wednesday night.

The Lady Byng is given "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability," as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Hudler had his best career season with 31 goals and 76 points in 2014-15, leading the Calgary Flames in each category.

Michael Frolik is ready to step into any and every role the Flames need him to in order to boost the squad for the upcoming season.

"In the past, I’ve proved I can play different roles on the team. I don’t know what my role’s going to be but I’m ready for it. Like I did in the past, I can be in the first line, I can play the third line, PK, powerplay," said the new acquisition. ""It’s gonna be a new system, different adjustments but I’m very excited to work with the coach here. I talked to (Bob Hartley) and he’s going to give me a chance to play big minutes." Frolik was a fixture in the Jets' top six last year, so its unlikely he collects significantly more than the 42 points he managed last season.

Jooris signed a one-year deal worth $975,000 earlier this week. "I’m completely thrilled to be back in Calgary next year, and to avoid arbitration," said Jooris. "I’m looking forward to a year where I have to prove myself again and having the chance to do that again. I can’t think of a better place to continue my development." The 25-year-old scored 12 goals and 24 points in 60 NHL games last season.

It's not clear what his timetable is, but we wouldn't be surprised if he's fine by the time training camp starters. He was playing through the injury for most of the 2014-15 campaign. Colborne had eight goals and 28 points in 64 contests in 2014-15.

Although the acquisition and subsequent signing of Dougie Hamilton served as a temporary distraction, the focus in Calgary will now shift back to Mark Giordano's negotiations.

"Mark's our captain and our leader, and we're gonna work away at getting that done," Flames GM Brad Treliving said. "No update on the talks with Mark, other than it remains a priority for us to continue and work away at and get to a good conclusion." Giordano still has a season left on his contract, so his situation wasn't urgent. It will be interesting to see how Calgary handles its defensive situation though as it already has roughly $22 million committed to five blueliners in 2016-17 and that doesn't include Giordano. It's likely the Flames will have to make another move at some point.

T.J. Brodie led the Flames with 28:32 minutes of ice time in Game 4 of their first round series.

Brodie had an assist and a plus-one rating in Calgary's 3-1 win over Vancouver. That was the most work he's gotten in a 2015 playoff game so far. He is averaging an impressive 26:43 minutes per contest.

Dougie Hamilton doesn't see himself having difficulty dealing with the pressure that will come with his new six-year, $34.5 million deal.

"I think the expectations are going to be higher but I think in Boston there’s a lot of scrutiny from fans and expectations for me when I came in, being a top-10 pick," said Hamilton. "I think I handled that fine and think it'll be the same here, just have fun and play my game. You can’t really put too much pressure on yourself, better to just do your best and try to be as consistent as you can." Hamilton also thinks he still hasn't reached his ceiling. He recorded 10 goals and 42 points in 2014-15 and he should be able to finish in that range again next season.

Although the Flames suffered a 3-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks in Game 2 on Sunday, they were encouraged by their play in the second and third periods.

Calgary managed to outshot Anaheim 21-14 in the final 40 minutes of the game. "It shows we can play with these guys, but now we need to do it for 60 minutes," said Kris Russell. "We can talk all we want about how we can compete with these guys, but we have to show that we can, and I thought we did there in the second and third. We have to build from that. It doesn't mean it's going to get easier. It doesn't mean we go home and we're just going to find our game. We have to earn everything against this team. We have to make sure we're prepared to do that in Game 3." Although Calgary outshot Anaheim over that span, the Ducks still outscored them in the final 40 minutes of the contest. Calgary has an uphill battle ahead of it.

To put that in perspective, Engelland's shift was 4.5 times longer than the league's average. In fact, Engelland was out there for so long that he ended up facing 18 of Vancouver's 20 players over the course of that shift. It wasn't by design as Engelland got caught out there for multiple icings against Calgary. Remarkably, it didn't end with Vancouver scoring. "There was definitely desperation," Engelland said. "You don't want to get scored on on any shift, and when you’'re out there that long, you are fatigued, and they are trying to take advantage of it."

The Flames have him and Joni Ortio under contract for next season, but Karri Ramo is eligible for unrestricted free agency. Hiller and Ramo split time for Calgary last season, but it was Ramo who got to play in the second round of the playoffs against Anaheim. "It was tough because I thought I had a really good series against Vancouver and I never got the chance to play against Anaheim," said Hiller. "But at the same time, it was something similar over the whole year, which wasn't easy to have two guys to help the team, sometimes it was tough because you felt good about your game and then you didn't play for a while." If Ramo leaves then Hiller should get an increase in starts.

Karri Ramo has signed a one-year, $3.8 million deal to stay in Calgary.

He would've been eligible for unrestricted free agency, but he'll remain with the Flames. Jonas Hiller has a year left on his contract and Joni Ortio has a one-way deal in 2015-16, so the team will face some tough decisions on who goes and who stays. Ramo had a 15-9-3 record with a .912 save percentage and a 2.60 goals-against average last season